England fretting about Brazil heat, humidity

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — English football players can deal with the weather if it’s wet and bleak, or cold and grim. But the heat and humidity is a different story, seen almost as a hostile environment.

Hot and sticky will be the conditions Saturday when England faces Italy in the steamy Amazon jungle port of Manaus, where the humidity averages 80 percent year around. A local adage says there are two seasons: summer and hell.

England has fretted about playing in Manaus since the World Cup draw six months ago.

“Obviously being English players, we’re not used to those conditions,” defender Gary Cahill said.

England’s done what it can to prepare. There was a training camp last month in Portugal, friendly matches last week in Miami, and a base camp in sub-tropical Rio de Janeiro with three days of practice in the sun.

Players have been taking malaria pills and sweating — mostly over conditions in the jungle.

“It is a normal day and not that hot for me,” he said. “I guess the English players are used to rain, but not used to Brazil. It could be very hot in Manaus.”

English reporter Oliver Holt, who covers football for the Daily Mirror, called the English “overly obsessed about the weather.”

“I think deep down we might feel that Italy might be a little bit more prepared,” Holt said. “It might not be as foreign to Italy. They’re southern Europeans. They might be more confident about it. So we’re a little bit neurotic about it.”

Holt also speculated there might be another reason for all the concern.